Four days offline- Are you okay? - Research, Technology, and Teamwork blog by Susie Wee -
Research, Technology, and Teamwork blog by Susie Wee » Four days offline- Are you okay?
Four days offline- Are you okay?
I have an interesting experience to share. I had family and friends in town this past weekend, so I actually took four days off- Friday, Saturday, Sunday, and Monday- where I didn't respond to emails, I didn't update my status on Facebook, and I didn't post a new blog entry. I was having a grand old time in the physical world. BUT, a number of people at work became very concerned. One person sent me a message on Facebook that said "Are you okay?" Another wondered what was wrong and why wasn't I replying to messages. Another was concerned that I was using up my vacation days and leaving HP. (No, I'm not.) It's amazing what four days offline will do!

I did have an out-of-the-office message saying that I'd be back in the office on Tuesday, but that wasn't enough. Do we need an "out-of-the-virtual-world message" as well?

For those who were concerned:  Sorry and thank you for your concern!  I'm absolutely fine... in fact, I'm doing great!  ;)

What do you think?
Is this a sad statement about my life?
Do you have any similar experiences to share?
What happens when you spend four days offline?
Posted 10-11-2007 4:51 PM by susie.wee
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Comments

sqchen wrote <b>Online Addiction</b> Re: Four days offlin
on 10-23-2007 1:56 AM
A different story, but might be relevant.

There was occasionally a time that I didn't receive an email in about half a day. I became upset, starting to check the spam filter first, and then to test using my different email addresses. It turned out that there is no problem, but just no emails. I started to realize it is my problem.

I guess many people, including myself, have been addicted to the network, whether we realize or not. The positive side is that communication is fast and easy. The negative is that we rely too much on the online communication. We are addicted! Because we almost stay online everyday, we don't think staying offline is as normal as online!

While I always tried to make corrections, automatically, wherever I go, whatever the trip for, I still bring my laptop, and start to check online. This summer on the travel, I realized there is no broadband access, so I gave myself an excuse not to check online. But when I was told dial-up may work, I tried hard to set up and use dial-up, which I had not used for many years.

So from your story, the good is that you have many friends caring about you, and you might not be as addictive as them:)

alexeitd wrote Re: Four days offline- Are you okay?
on 11-26-2007 8:51 PM
Four days? Man, i spent three days at a beach resort, working on a story for the newspaper -COMPLETELY OFFLINE- and today, when i came back, i felt like it was a week! All my accounts were crowded, my blog reader had more than a hundred entries (it took me more than one hour to read them all, and i haven´t finish yet) and my blog was, like, full with spam and pending comments. Not should we mention the "Net abstinence syndrome"... I dont know, perhaps when we become so active in the "Net World" and, suddenly you dissapear, people fear the worse. But that´s part of our lifes! BTW, How´s the weather at California? LOL
Susie Wee wrote Re: Four days offline- Are you okay?
on 11-28-2007 1:46 PM
sqchen: Your story is very relevant and I can very much relate to it! I still get a little angry when connectivity doesn't work. To take it one step further, in addition to thinking about what life is like offline, imagine what it would be like to not have a computer. I remember being at work when we had a power outage across the city about 10 years ago. Not many people had laptops at that time, so everybody's computer was down. People starting leaving their cubicles, gathering in the hallways, chatting with each other. It was great! After it became clear that the power would not come on for the rest of the afternoon, people went home or went outside to get coffee and do other things. It was amazing how dependent we are on computers to do our work!

I can report one advancement for carrying a laptop when I travel. I have had a few trips where I didn't bring my laptop and I only brought my handheld iPAQ. I was able to get my connectivity fix through my iPAQ. Actually, I remember the first time I walked home without my laptop and only carried my iPAQ. I felt free! One of my colleagues said, "don't you carry a bag home?" I had my iPAQ in my purse!

Thanks for your story!

Susie Wee wrote Re: Four days offline- Are you okay?
on 12-13-2007 6:43 PM
alexeitd: Wow- it's unbelievable that you, the ultimate Mr. Techie, actually took a vacation and had 3 days completely offline! But from a selfish perspective I can say that I'm happy to have you back in the Net World since that's where I get to see you! :)
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